Scrapbook of a Happily Ever After
by M.L. Shards
Summary: Kat joins Tommy in Reefside. TommyKat
1. Chapter 1

AN: I went to a reading of _Scrapbook of My_ Years as a _Zealot_. by Nicole Markotic and she explained that when she had a narrative but no real connector plot, she called it a scrapbook, allowing her to move more freely in the story and explore different characters, etc. This is a collection of Tommy/Kat stories, taking place in the same universe, but there isn't a big connecting storyline, it's just exploration of moments of their life together.

I don't know how long this will be. As of posting this chapter, I have five parts written. There may be more or not.

I don't own Power Rangers

Reviews are the lifeblood of fan fiction writers… please, give blood today.

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Tommy could never forget the day a beautiful young woman had waltzed into the school with two giant black duffle bags of clothes and materials asking for directions to his classroom. It was one of those days that were so whimsical he often needed to double check to make sure what happened had been real, because he'd had a lot of hits to the head over the years and there was always the chance one did more damage than he thought.

But it had been real, this woman, with cropped, bright blonde hair, and gorgeous legs accented by soft pink high heels, she was quickly the focus of every teenage boy in the school and they flocked to her to carry her bags. She'd protested initially, but soon agreed she wasn't wearing the proper footwear to be carrying such bags. Instead she walked slightly ahead of the two boys carrying her bags and slightly behind the one who was leading her towards her destination. Behind them, an army of curious teenage boys followed.

The sight was humorous to most, (and disgusting to some of the girls' boyfriends), but soon the girls were following the crowd, just as curious to see where this was going.

"Oh! She was in one of my dad's magazines!" One girl whispered. "I think she's a model."

"Dad's magazine? Like-"

"No, a fitness magazine you pervert…"

Her high heels clicked as she walked down the hall, embarrassed by the amount of attention she was getting from the students.

"Here it is!" The boy in front of her announced, gesturing to the near-empty classroom when Tommy was sitting behind his desk, grading paper.

"Thank you very much, you can drop the bags now if you'd like."

Freezing mid check mark at the sound of the woman's accent, Tommy glanced up, reading glasses perched on the end of his nose to see the blonde in pink high heels, a jean skirt, and white tank top. She greeted him with a wide grin as his jaw dropped along with his pen, both reaching the floor.

"Kat?" He asked dumbly.

"Hello Tommy." Kat greeted cheerfully.

"You're back?"

Un-phased by this, Kat nodded as if that hadn't been the silliest question he could have asked. After all, wasn't she clearly standing in the hallway of his classroom? Of course she was back.

"Really? For good this time?"

Kat's smile softened a bit more. She and Tommy had had a deal made shortly after high school and it was simple. If they were still together after college and after Kat had had the opportunity to travel Europe with the dance academy she'd been accepted into, and if they could survive the long distance aspect of their relationship, then after her tour ended, Kat would relocated to Reefside permanently. And after that, they'd get married.

The deal had been made when their relationship had been in it's initial honeymoon stage, after Power Rangers, but before they were dealing with all of real life's hardships. Neither had really expected the deal to last, but their circumstance never did managed to keep them apart for long. Hayley managed to teach Tommy how to use email and texting to keep in contact with her and well, here they were.

Of course, it wasn't like she hadn't visited a few times over the years, so she was known for showing up randomly at times and then taking off again, but no, not this time.

"The tour ended last month, Tommy. I gave my notice at my apartment there, sold my furniture, and now I'm here with two duffle bags containing everything I own. Ready to stay this time, I promise."

"W-why didn't you tell me? I could have picked you up or something… aren't you jet lagged?"

"Yes, but I stopped by Starbucks and had a bunch of espresso shots so I'll be good for another few hours… I wanted to surprise you. So," Kat replied slowly. "are you surprised?"

"Yes! That's great!" Tommy exclaimed getting out of his chair so quickly he knocked it into the blackboard. He threw his arms out and captured her in a hug. She lifted her feet off the ground and he twirled her around, giving her a soft kiss on the lips.

The girls in the small army that had been following Kat let out a collective "Awww…" Both former rangers glanced at the doorway to see dozens of pairs of eyes staring at them, some looking sad, some love struck, and one confused boy who only wanted extra help in science and couldn't figure out what was going on.

"You appear to have a following…" Tommy remarked as two teens walked into the room and dumped Kat's bags on two nearby desks. He let her down and she giggled in response.

"Yes, I do seem to have disrupted things a bit."

"Don't you have classes to go to?" Tommy asked with a groan.

"End of the day, Dr. O." One boy pointed out.

"Ah, yes… well, Kat, um… these are students, uh, students, this is Kat." Tommy said awkwardly pointing between the group and the blonde. "She's… well, she's my girlfriend."

The students all collectively blinked at this fact before a low whistle resonated from somewhere near the back of the group followed by a, "Way to go Dr.O!" a slap and then, "Ow! Rachel! What was that for?" Then came the snickering.

"Maybe we should get going?" Kat suggested lightly. "You can mark papers at home."

But Tommy was way ahead of her, already pulling his leather jacket on, grabbing his papers and mumbling to himself about annoying teenagers and how he thought Conner had been "punishment enough for the whole being evil thing."

"Boys, would you mind-"

The two boys who'd been carrying Kat's bags picked them up again, but with less gusto. After all, now that they knew she was the teacher's girlfriend, some of her appeal had worn off. After all, dating the teacher's sloppy seconds? That was never nor would ever be cool. The sea of students parted as Tommy headed out the door, looking at the ground, papers tucked under his arm, Kat closely behind, with the two boys behind them. Immediately after they were out the front door, the group burst out into a mix of whispers, rants, "awws", and laughter.

Elsa, meanwhile, sat in her office, not even wanting to know what was going on. It was the end of the day; as far as she cared, by then students were out of her jurisdiction.


	2. Chapter 2

"You know Tommy," Kat remarked taking a bite of the chocolate bar she'd been presented with. "You really know how to treat a girl. I come here after a ridiculously long flight, surprise you at work and you bring me back here and stuff me full of soda and chocolate."

Tommy laughed, leaning over the back of the couch while Kat swallowed and tilted her head up for a small kiss. "Don't get used to it, I just need to keep you awake for a few more hours so I can try and get you better adjusted to the time difference."

Kat shrugged and took another bite. "Either way, any girl would be quite content with this treatment."

Tommy grinned. "As I mentioned, don't get too used to it."

Kat responded by sticking her tongue out at him.

"Anyways, I need to mark those papers…"

"Go ahead, I'll amused myself for a while."

"Just try to stay awake, all right?"

Kat nodded as Tommy headed into his office area to work. That really got Kat, Tommy? Doing work? She never thought she'd see the day. She giggled to herself as she picked up Tommy's remote and began channel surfing, looking for something interesting. Eventually settling on a marathon of _The City_ Kat watched for all of twenty minutes before deciding no human should be allowed to misuse the word "like" so many times and promptly changed it to _CSI: Miami_.

Kat let out a sigh. She'd been hoping to spend the rest of the day with Tommy, but then again, she was running on caffeine only and Tommy was the only one currently with a job. That was another thing she was going to have to look into in a little while, finding a job in town. She shook her head as Horatio whipped the sunglasses of justice off of his face and began saying something about blood splatter. She wasn't really sure what he said but for some reason her sleep deprived brain found it hilarious and she began uncontrollably giggling.

Three _Miami_ episodes later, Kat came to the conclusion if she ever won the lottery she was hiring David Caruso to stand in the living room and say all of his corny lines and constantly take off and put on his sunglasses. Why? Because they were so ridiculously bad and he was so serious when saying them, it was hilarious.

"What are you watching?" Tommy asked finally, reappearing from his office. "I can hear you down the hall."

"Horatio is a bloody idiot." Kat giggled, knowing full well that too much caffeine to her was kind of like being drunk. Unfunny things became hilarious and she couldn't control what she said very well.

Tommy rolled his eyes. "Well, I finished the papers… want to watch a movie?"

"Okay."

Eventually settling on the classic _Pink Panther_ (because of the genuine hilarity and Kat's enjoyment of all things pink) the two settled down on the couch, with Kat snuggling up beside Tommy, bending her knees and swinging her legs sideways so that her bare feet rested near her butt. She leaned her head on Tommy's shoulder, and he glanced down at her. They gave each other warm smiles before turning their attention back to the screen.

It was amazing how after so long of only phone calls, emails and texts, that the two fell back into the physical part of their relationship so seamlessly. The few light kisses, the cuddling, it was so romantic, and Kat really felt that Tommy was more in tune with what women want than he admitted to. Though, if he tried to give her a tire iron for her birthday again, she might take that thought back.

Through Clouseau's antics, Tommy found himself chuckling and would hear a roaring laugh from the caffeine high woman lying on him, but slowly Kat's laughter died down until she wasn't laughing anymore. Tommy glanced down to see the blonde had fallen asleep on him and was lightly snoring. He glanced at the clock, deciding the eight o'clock was close enough to bedtime for the young woman with serious jetlag, he turned the movie off, rested his head against hers' and eventually fell asleep.

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	3. Chapter 3

Kat hummed to herself as she strolled along the condiment aisle of the grocery store, tapping a manicured nail to her chin. Ketchup? Or Catsup? Was there even a difference? Heck, she didn't even know Catsup was real, she'd always assumed it had been a joke with pronunciations like _tah-may-toe, tah-mah-toe_, but there was actually a few bottles labeled "Catsup" and not "Ketchup" and she was personally stumped. She never used Ketchup on anything until she came to the states, she used to each her chips with vinegar…

She wandered aimlessly, looking at the bottles before smacking into Tommy who was staring at her like she'd grown another head. "Kat, you've been staring at the ketchup for ten minutes."

"The recipe calls for Catsup which I assumed was Ketchup but those…"

Tommy laughed. "They're the same thing, just spelt differently."

"Oh… well I feel like a fool."

"No problem, you still have a week or so where you can blame any blonde moments on jetlag, after that, your hair colour is on it's own."

"That's… not very nice…" Kat replied swatting him on the arm.

"I'm a mean person." He replied deadpanned, plucking a bottle of ketchup from the shelves and placing it in the basket. "You know, you don't need to cook dinner for me."

Kat raised an eyebrow. "Tommy, you don't have any real food in your house."

"I do too."

"You have beans and waffles."

"They're all you need." Tommy defended, puffing his chest out jokingly.

Kat rolled her eyes. "Besides, it's the least I can do, I've kind of just been lounging around your house for the past few days and I don't have a job yet, so at least I can cook for you."

"Okay." Tommy conceded, giving Kat a one armed hug and stretching out the "Oh" sound.

"Good."

"Can I at least buy you a smoothie on the way home? There's someone I'd like you to meet."

"Tommy, I haven't gone for a smoothie since… well… high school… don't tell me you still hang out at a smoothie place" She got no answer. "No wonder you're multicolored…."

"Well, it'll be like a flashback." Tommy replied with a laugh.

"All right."

It took a while, but eventually Kat found herself on the passenger side of Tommy's jeep, thankful she had cut her hair short as it blew around her. She glanced over at Tommy, wondering whatever has possessed them both to cut their hair so much shorter than they were used to. There were times she missed running her fingers through his long hair, but this way her nails didn't get tangles in any knots and cause him to yelp. That had been an embarrassing make out session in high school…

"So where are we going?"

Tommy glanced at her. "To get smoothies, remember?"

"No, I mean literally, where?"

"Place called _Hayley's Cyberspace_."

"You? At a cybercafé?"

"Hey, I ran a perfectly good command center out of my basement for a year." Tommy pointed. He'd told Kat about it over the phone numerous times as sending her any emails that could accidentally get sent out would compromise a lot of secret identities.

"You ran that?"

Tommy paused. "Okay, no, Hayley ran it. That's who I want you to meet. We met while you were in London but whenever you've come to visit I've never introduced you two. She's a bit protective of me, but you did go up against the Machine Empire amongst others so I think you can handle Hayley."

"You think?"

"Heck, I can't handle Hayley… she scares me…"

Kat wasn't sure if he was being serious or not.

The jeep pulled into the parking lot of the cybercafé and Tommy was nice enough to come around and help Kat down from the jeep even though she'd opted to wear sneakers (obviously pink). She wiped her hands off on the back of her short shorts and swung her purse over her shoulder. Tommy took her hand and led her into the café.

Kat recognized most of the students from her entourage on the day she arrived, none of them seemed surprised to see Tommy there, in fact, a few of them appeared to have been waiting for him (on a Saturday?) and approached him to ask for help with their homework. He told them in a little while and approached the counter.

Behind it stood a redheaded woman, who had tilted her head to the side to study Kat as soon as she entered and Kat could see why Tommy would be afraid of her when she was angry. Then again, Tommy would cower in fear if any female was angry, he had a lot of respect for their rage after dealing with Rita for so long.

"Hi Hayley." Tommy greeted, pulling Kat over to a seat at the counter. "Hayley, this is Kat, Kat, this is Hayley."

"_The_ Hayley?" Kat asked, gesturing to the café.

Hayley nodded. "That's me." She said, holding her hand out and Kat shook it. "So you're _the _Kat I've been hearing about for all these years?"

"I certainly hope so." Kat replied, giving Tommy a calculated look.

"Only one Kat." Tommy said quickly.

"I'm just joking." Kat giggled.

"You've got him trained well." Hayley laughed. "Hey, can I get you two anything? Strawberry smoothie perhaps?"

"That sounds great." Kat said.

"Regular?" She asked, turning to Tommy.

"Yup."

"What's regular?" Kat asked.

"Blackberry."

"Oh, right. I should have guessed… maybe next you can have strawberry with me."

Tommy's eyes went wide at what she was implying. "No, no skirts." This earned him odd looks from a few of the students waiting for his help.

Kat wrapped her arms around Tommy's arm and leaned her head on his shoulder. She let out a sigh. "You know, it's so weird, my tour being over. Being here for real, so many things to do…"

"Like what?"

"Well, find a job for one."

"And?"

"Get you eating better"

"And?"

"Fixing the house."

"What's wrong with the house?"

"We need to redecorate."

"What?"

"Come on, I need at least one pink room."

"Kat!" He whined as Hayley returned with the smoothies. "Thank you. Well, can I have a green, white, red and black room then?"

"Black is too dark for paint and red, green, and white appear every Christmas."

"Well you get pink on Valentine's day."

Hayley rolled her eyes as she went back to her work. "Sheesh, they're not even married yet."

"Okay, look, I finally got the basement cleared up after you-know-what, so if I let you turn that into a dance studio can I be spared redecorating?" Tommy finally caved.

"No," Kat replied, "but I'll spare you a pink bedroom, office or living room. I make no promises for the kitchen, and I get pink towels in the bathroom." Tommy gave her a sad look. "Okay I'll pick most of the furniture out to be black or white."

"And what about red and green?"

"Dark green towels will be allowed in the washroom. And you can have red accents to the black and white. That's supposed to be very modern looking."

"I live in the middle of nowhere."

"Maybe we should move…"

"Kat!"

"Okay, forget that."

Hayley rolled her eyes and approached them again. "As cute as your argument is, first, you're creeping my other customers out because they don't want to believe teachers have romantic lives, and Tommy, Clinton and Shelly have been waiting for science help for twenty minutes."

Tommy winced. "Oops…"

"We'll discuss this later."

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Thank you everyone for the wonderful reviews. Please keep them coming.


	4. Chapter 4

Kat wasn't quite sure what was going on with her boyfriend the past few weeks. She kept waking up to find him standing beside her with a soft, white, measuring tape which he would then hide behind his back, refuse to acknowledge the existence of and then run away. When confronted, he denied anything strange, but Kat was suspicious.

This clearly wasn't a possession, because Tommy still was Tommy, except when he had the tape measure he would act weird. He was trying to measure her in her sleep? That was creepy. But Tommy was a good guy, he saved the world more times than… well… anyone at this point and he could not possibly have a weird number fetish because she was pretty sure she'd have noticed it before now.

Things went on like this until one morning she woke up to see Tommy running away, giggling (yes, giggling) wildly and holding a measurement on the tape. It was a strange sound and sight, but after that, Tommy seemed to drop the tape measure thing and it didn't happen again.

Honestly, that man couldn't do anything the normal way.

Then, her jewelry started missing. Earrings, rings, necklaces, all of it, but it would be replaced the next day in her jewelry box and Kat was pretty sure Tommy was taking it. So this led her to the thought that maybe he was a drag queen. After she got over giggling at the mental image she dismissed the idea, figuring that she would definitely know about that if it was true.

So Tommy was trying to measure her in her sleep, eh? Well, maybe he was trying to buy her clothes but didn't want to ask her size. He could just look at her shirt size though… and what about the jewelry? Was he looking for stuff that went with her jewelry? Well… if he was he was being pretty through about clothes shopping, and considering Tommy had to buy a new wardrobe every time he changed colours, he stopped caring around the Red Zeo Ranger. So why would he buy her clothes?

When the only logical explanation was that her boyfriend was a number fetish-y drag queen, Kat knew she was in trouble.

What the heck was he doing?


	5. Chapter 5

Kat glanced around at the rooms before her, feeling a real sense of satisfaction. It had been a really long few months, but she felt quite happy with what she had accomplished. First of all, she'd managed to get a job Reefside High as a dance instructor since the school had been looking to put a high quality dance program into the school to encourage a stronger arts program.

Then, Tommy had kept good on letting her convert the former command center, after he had managed to clean out the rubble and destroyed computer systems. After all evidence of Power Rangers were gone, they hired someone to put in a hardwood floor. She'd put up mirrors on the far wall and eventually secured a beam to the wall as well. She brought down Tommy's stereo system and a collection of CDs and often put on private performances for her boyfriend. She framed her performance ballet slippers and pictures and hung them on the sides without mirrors. Tommy set up a punching bag in the back corner and used it for martial arts training.

Wallets nearly dry from that endeavor, Kat set out to renovate the rest of the house without much money which meant her and Tommy painting on their own which meant only after school and on weekends, except Wednesdays. On Wednesday they always seemed to get into paint flinging fights which did more damage than good. They'd bought new towels (pink and green) some new carpet, and some new cooking appliances since Kat made good on her promise to get Tommy eating better. Some furniture rearranging a "poof" it was like a whole new house.

And Tommy eventually caved and allowed Kat to paint the guest room a shade of light pink.

"It's so pretty." Kat sighed happily, wiping the back of her hand (still holding her white paint covered brush,)on her forehead. She wore one of Tommy's old green shirts and short shorts with her pink sneakers. She had a pink bandana in her hair.

"It does look nice." Tommy had to admit. "But are we done yet?"

"Yeah Tommy, we're done this time."

"Excellent!" He exclaimed, giving her a paint filled hug. "I'm taking you out to dinner to celebrate!"

"Oh! That'd be wonderful!" Kat exclaimed, glancing down at her now paint covered arm. They hadn't really been on a date since she arrived, she'd been so preoccupied with redecorating… she blamed it on the _Home and Garden Network_. "I need to shower first though."

"Yeah… I don't even think _Burger King _will take us dressed like this."

"Is that where we're going?"

"No, it's a surprise, but wear your pink dress."

"Tommy," Kat replied, raising an eyebrow. "they're all pink, you're going to have to be a little more specific."

"You know," Tommy explained awkwardly. "it has the little black flowers."

"Oh… that one? Okay."

"Great!" Tommy exclaimed. "Now I'll let you shower first, but only because you take longer and this will get a move on on you getting dressed. So don't use up all of the hot water… please?"

Kat laughed. "I think I can arrange that."

Tommy nodded. "And you need to start getting ready right after your shower, it's a bit of a drive."

Two hours later, Kat was putting the finishing touches of her makeup on, some eyeliner and lip gloss. She swept some of her hair behind her ears. She hadn't gotten it cut since she arrived and it had grown to nearly reach her shoulders. Already Tommy was whining about her taking too long. Hey, she'd blown dry, styled her hair, fixed her dress, done her makeup and moved all of her stuff from her black casual purse into her fancier black purse. In girl time, she was doing pretty darn good.

"Okay, okay, I'm coming." Kat sighed, opening the bathroom door to reveal Tommy leaning against the doorframe in black dress pants, and an opened black suit jacket and white dress shirt with the collar undone.

"Kat, even though you took forever, there is no denying results. You look beautiful." Tommy said with a grin.

"Not so bad yourself." Kat remarked with a wink.

"Come on, let's go. Reservations' for seven o'clock."

Kat frowned. "We have reservations?"

"I planned in advance; I thought we might finish today."

"You? Planned in advance? And are worried about being on time?" She turned to him. "Who are you? Where's my boyfriend?"

"Haha," Tommy said dryly. "You are hi-larious."

"I try. Come on, I'll get my coat and heels and I'll be ready to go."

"I'll meet you by the jeep, okay?" Tommy asked, pecking her on the cheek and heading down the hall. Dress shoes making clomping sounds as he went.

Kat frowned, glancing at a nearby clock. It wasn't even four o'clock yet and he was worried about being late? She had a funny feeling… She shook it off and grabbed a light jacket from the closet, and slid on a pair of black high heels before locking up and joining Tommy. He offered his hand and with a joking "m'lady", helped her into the jeep with her heels before getting in the driver's side.

"When do I get to drive?" Kat asked curiously.

"When you get used to driving on the correct side of the road." Tommy replied.

"I only messed that up once." Kat defended, wincing at the memory. Tommy hadn't let her drive the jeep since then. "I was in Europe for a lot of years…"

"Well, maybe in a year or so we could think about getting another car, we can't afford it right now…"

Kat nodded in understanding.

The drive was longer than Kat had expected, almost two and a half hours, which did explain why Tommy had been so worried about time. He'd made her close her eyes for about twenty minutes too, she didn't even know where they were at this point. When he parked and helped her out of the jeep she froze.

"Tommy… what are we doing here?"

"I just thought… it's on the way…"

Kat looked around sadly at the remains of the once grand Command Center. "We're going to Angel Grove for dinner?" She asked unthinkingly.

"You know… we kind of… we met because of this thing you know." Tommy said with a sigh. "Because of the rangers and the fighting, without it, I don't think I'd have ever met you, or at least got to know you as well as I do now."

"Tommy?" Kat asked softly.

"I mean, we have a bond, a special secret we share. We trust each other completely because of this, we did so much with it and after it."

"Tommy, you're confusing me."

"Our relationship sort of started because of this place. I mean, Kat, do you know how much we've survived together? Being evil, High school, the near end of the world three times for you, four for me, college, the physical distance between here and Europe, and of course redecorating my house. It's nuts."

Kat just placed her hand on Tommy's shoulder. "Yeah, it is nuts... hey! It's my house too now."

"Which is why I think we should start the next stage of the deal."

"The deal?"

"We've survived so much already. The rest of our lives should be a breeze… Kat…" Tommy paused, reaching into his back pocket and kneeling in the dirt. "Will you marry me?" He opened the small ring box he'd pulled out to reveal a silver engagement with a single pink diamond in the center.

In response, Kat nearly swallowed her tongue. "Gahk!" She exclaimed awkwardly. "I mean yes! Yes! Of course!" She accepted the ring, and slid it on her finger. It fit perfectly, and most of her jewelry was either silver or pink… "Oh maybe that's what you were doing…" She added quietly to herself.

Tommy grinned as they hugged and then shared a passionate kiss, alone, in the dark, by the remains of the Command Center. It was an odd place to propose, but somehow so fitting. Kat knew she'd have to think up an alternate story to tell her mother, but right now she didn't care. "Come on, we still got dinner reservations in Angel Grove, let's go."

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Hehe, this is my favorite chapter....

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	6. Chapter 6

Tommy let out a dreamy sigh as he watched Kat prance around in the new dance studio. The music was burning his ears, was and would never be a Hilary Duff fan, but Kat insisted it was a good song for her to use in her dance class at the school. Tommy had never really considered that Kat studied more than ballet dancing, but he guessed teaching ballet to high school students would be useless anyways...

But, burning ears aside, he was all for watching his new fiancé prance around in a black leotard and pink leg warmers.

"_Reach out and touch me." _Hilary whined from the speakers on Tommy's stereo. Kat glanced back her dazed fiancé with an amused look.

"All right, you've suffered enough." Kat sighed, picking the grey remote up from the ground and clicking the stereo off. "You can practice your fighting now."

"Oh, I really didn't mind the show." Tommy responded, approaching Kat and giving her shoulder a squeeze. "So what are the men in your dance class supposed to do then?"

"Simple." Kat replied. "Reach out." She said, stretching Tommy's arms out. "and touch me." She finished, leaning against his chest between his arms, and enclosing them around her waist. "And then-"

"I think we could stop right here." Tommy laughed, squeezing her tightly and kissing her lightly on the neck.

She laughed. "I think I'd get fired if I tried to put that in the routine."

Tommy agreed. "But you know that would help with our future wedding guest list because, _someone _told her students about her engagement and now we have a million female students who want to come to the wedding."

"Tammy already calls me Mrs. Oliver." Kat mused to herself before turning serious. "Tommy, I know… I know we aren't really planning a date or setting anything yet, but I need to ask you something."

"Anything."

"This is serious." Kat insisted, untangling herself from Tommy to look him in the eye.

"Okay."

"I mean, if we have a big wedding and don't elope… should we invite Kim?" She blurted out. The question had been bugging her for a while, but now it was out in the open.

It felt as though the air had been sucked out of the dance studio as the newly engaged couple looked at each other. The room became tense and neither was bold enough to speak.

Kim was just something they'd never really talked about. Kat had talked to her a couple of times over the years, and Tommy had talked to her on the phone once after the whole letter incident, so it wasn't like she was completely cut out of their lives or ignorant of their relationship. She was just a bit of a touchy subject and was thus rarely brought up.

"D-do you want to?" Tommy asked slowly, recognizing the need to tread carefully in this area.

"Well, I mean, she's a friend, and she brought us together, unintentionally mind you… but I don't want to insult her or anything, I mean would it be appropriate to invite her? And what about…" Kat trailed off, gesturing to Tommy. "I guess I've always been a big jealous of her place in your heart."

Tommy gave Kat a soft smile. "Kim is important to me. She was my first love and one of my best friends and will always be special to me and because of it I will always love her. She did so much for me, in fact, she did one thing for me that brought me so much happiness I'll never be able to repay her."

"What?" Kat sniffed.

"She brought me you, Kit Kat." Tommy said gently, placing his index finger under his fiance's chin and tilting her head up. Kat gave his a weak smile. He'd never used that nickname before, it was pretty cute. "She's also a very sweet woman, if we invite her she'll know we don't mean it as an insult. She's not a bitter person like that."

Kat sniffed again. "Do you have a speech writer or something? Because you are unreal when it comes to saying some of the most romantic things…"

Tommy laughed, pulling Kat close to him. She buried her head in the crook of his neck and started to cry. Whether they were tears of joy or relief, Kat didn't know, but the release felt good. "I think we should invite her."

"Okay." Kat agreed, voice muffled by his shoulder.

"But only if we don't elope."

"Okay."

"I still think Vegas would be neat."

"No Tommy."

"They have Power Ranger themed weddings though. Do you understand how funny it would-"

Kat pulled back and looked Tommy in the eye. "Shut up." She said simply, pulling him down for a passionate kiss.

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TommyKim is something that will always be the elephant in the room for TommyKat writers. I wanted to find a way to address it and I think this worked out well. I kind of forgot about this story after I started working again… sorry for the delay.

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	7. Chapter 7

"Whoa…" Kira remarked, stepping backwards. "Are we sure this is the right house?"

"What other house is there out here?" Ethan asked doubtfully.

"It's so…" Trent trailed off.

"Clean." Conner finished before Kira promptly smacked him upside the head. "Ow! Admit it, you're all thinking it."

It wasn't often all of the Dino Rangers schedules aligned to give them breaks together. Normally Conner's soccer, Trent and Ethan's schooling, and Kira's singing made it too difficult to get together to do anything. But somehow, for one week, everything was working out, and the former rangers had made the decision to return to Reefside to see their mentor.

But they'd gone to the school, and Elsa said he'd left early, so they went to Hayley's… he wasn't there. With his phone turned off, they decided to check his house. There had been no answer at the door, but each ranger had a spare key to the house, from when they'd been serving so they'd decided to let themselves in.

"He's redecorated…" Trent said finally.

"Maybe he moved." Conner suggested.

"He didn't move." Ethan shot back.

"Tommy? Is that you? Did you pick up bread like I…" Kat asked, rounding the corner while rubbing a fluffy pink towel against her sopping wet hair. On seeing the four strangers standing in the doorway of her house, she let out a shriek, thankful she'd changed into an old pair of Tommy's sweatpants and a pink t-shirt before coming out of the bathroom.

In response, two members of the four let out similar shrieks, causing the other two to look at them oddly. They turned to look at Kat briefly.

"Wrong house." Conner said quickly.

"She said Tommy!" Kira pointed out.

"Is Dr. O here?" Trent asked.

Kat lowered the towel from her hair, wrapping it around her arm. "Not right now. Who are you? How did you get in?"

"Dr. O used to be our teacher and we thought since we were all in town we'd stop by and say hi." Ethan filled in.

"We have keys." Conner added.

Kat frowned. "Do you have keys to all of your former teacher's houses?"

The four former Dino Rangers shared panic looks with one another.

"Yes"

"No"

Three turned to look at the lone proclaimer of "yes".

"Ethan, that's just wrong."

"Oh, now we're telling the truth?"

Kira turned back to the confused woman who was watching them carefully. "He taught us martial arts here, so he gave us keys to get in… who are you?"

"I'm Kat." She introduced with a small smile, holding her hand out. "Tommy is my fiancé..."

"Hey Kat, they were out of rye so I got…" Tommy announced, walking in the door, only to bump into Trent's back. "Uh… hello."

"Dr. O!" Ethan exclaimed. "Please tell your fiancé we are not crazy."

"Trent? Ethan? Conner? Kira? What are you doing here?" Tommy asked slowly, pushing passed them and handing the bag of bread to Kat before turning to face them.

"We came to visit."

"So you know them then?" Kat asked, raising her eyebrows.

"Yes." Tommy sighed. "They're not crazy, just rangers."

* * *

So... I totally forgot about this story...

I promise to write up to the wedding, bug me about it if my updating ever gets this bad again. I might end it there unless inspiration strikes.

Please Review.


	8. Chapter 8

Having connections was a good thing; having connections to a very rich man with a very guilty complex about trying to kill you multiple times was even better, especially when that guilty rich man has his own connections to former ranger mentors who have a private island that he's willing to lend you for your wedding so you don't have to book a date at a tropic resort a year in advance because you saved the world a number of times and it's "the least he could do."

Yes, the whole Mesogog thing was horrible, and so was Flurrious and those guys, but it did save him a lot on his wedding bill, so he was kind of grateful for it.

"So we're sure about this?" Kat asked, glancing over at her fiancé with wide eyes.

Tommy nodded. "It makes it easier, doesn't it? No guests, just us."

Kat agreed. "Oh Tommy, he's really letting us use it?" She asked, near giggles.

"Yup, one private island, all to ourselves for one week. Well, virtually, Anton said that Hartford's staff will be there at the house, and one of his former rangers will be doing the photography, but otherwise, just us."

"Tommy, it sounds heavenly but-"

"Ah! I don't like that word."

Kat ignored his protest. "Who is going to actually marry us?"

There was silence as the two looked at each other. Well, they hadn't considered that part thoroughly. They could go with a member of the church, or judge, or they could get a friend or family member ordained… But it was supposed to be a secret wedding, and that person couldn't look too much into their connection to Hartford or the ranger thing was going to be blown.

"I guess we could ask Hartford…" Tommy said slowly.

"We really don't know him though… as sweet as he's being, wouldn't it be a little awkward if our friends found out we had chunks of Operation Overdrive at the wedding but not them?"

"I guess so, but they're pretty heavily entwined with this thing…"

"True…" Kat agreed disappointedly.

Tommy shook his head. "Um, okay, let's think this through."

"What about Adam?" Kat suggested, suddenly perking up. "He knows Hartford doesn't he? And he's always been good at keeping secrets."

"I guess, but same problem, what about the others finding out?"

"Right…" Kat sighed. "Okay, who is a ranger who no one really keeps in contact with?"

"As much as I love the kid, having Justin marry us would be a little too weird."

"Good point… well, who is there who is a close friend, knows about the ranger stuff, and doesn't know any of the original rangers except us?"

There was a two second pause as the couple turned to face each other. "HAYLEY!"


	9. Chapter 9

Kat frowned, poking at the eggs in the frying pan with her spoon. Why was this taking so long? All she wanted was a poached egg, well actually two, but that was it. Two poached eggs, they weren't supposed to be taking this long, were they?

She let out an annoyed huff, clicking her nails against the kitchen counter. Tommy was being extra nice this week, it was a bit strange. Not that he wasn't a nice guy and all, but it was like the tape measure thing that she never fully figured out, he just never did anything normally…

Like yesterday, after school, he'd dropped her off at the local salon. She wasn't even aware she had an appointment, but when she got in there she was swarmed by people, cooing over her, and before she could ask what was going on, Tommy had slipped away, leaving his credit card behind. Apparently he'd booked her for the whole she-bang, manicure, pedicure, haircut, hell, they even gave her a small gift basket consisting of new makeup. There was no denying that it was a lovely experience, but it seemed quite random all the same.

They weren't getting married for a few more months, Kat didn't even have a dress yet…

And where was Tommy?

The thought hit her like a ton of bricks. It was a Saturday morning, and he hadn't been in bed when she'd woken up, and he didn't have work today, and she couldn't hear his normal workout music blaring from the basement. Was it her birthday or something? Surprise party? She shook her head, her birthday wasn't for three months.

A knock on the door startled her and she nearly knocked the frying pan onto the floor. She put a cover over the frying pan and headed towards the door. At least she was dressed this time for people to come to the door, not like the incident with the Dino Rangers… this time she had a nice pair of capris and a long sleeved shirt on, and no towels…

She got to the door and pulled it open, half expecting it to be Tommy with forgotten keys, but if that was the case then the door wouldn't be locked…

Instead she saw a young man in black dress pants and a black and red jacket with a compass design on the side. He smiled at her. "Hi there, you must be Katherine?"

She nodded. "You can call me Kat."

"I'm Mack Hartford." He said, holding out his hand, and she shook it. She noticed he was carrying a large garment bag over his left shoulder. "I have been told to give you this." He instructed, rolling the bag off of his shoulder and handing it to her.

"Oh, you're Mr. Hartford's son…" Kat remarked, accepting the bag with a puzzled look. "What is it?"

Mack reached into his pocket and pulled out a green slip of paper. "I have also been told to tell you to "bring the basket", I'll assume you know what that means and-"

A short woman with olive skin ran up behind Mack, wearing a near identical outfit, but with pink instead of red. "You forgot these." She handed him what appeared to be a shoebox.

"Oh, and these." Mack finished as he handed Kat the box. "So if you could get changed we'll be on our way."

Kat blinked. "On our way where?"

Mack and the woman looked at each other. "Uh, we're not supposed to tell you, but I think the stuff will explain it."

"And hurry please, Ronny is getting impatient and keeps trying to cut my hair." The woman said.

"Uh… okay… um… come in, make yourselves at home…"

"I'm Rose by the way."

"Nice to meet you."

Kat carried the box and bag into the bedroom, glancing over to the side table where the unopened gift basket of makeup was sitting. So maybe that was the basket…

She unzipped the bag and pulled the contents out. Her jaw dropped and her eyes widened.

It was beautiful.

It was a cream coloured, sleeveless dress, with ruffles along the top of the bust and around the inside of the large slit up the front of it. It was a very playful dress, almost like a rumba dress.

"Holy crap, am I getting married today?" Kat asked a nonexistent audience. Because that would seriously explain yesterday and the reason she had two Overdrive rangers in her living room… "I am NOT ready!" She set the dress down and pulled the lid off of the box to reveal a pair of white sandals with a tiny heel. "Well… getting closer…"

She got changed in record time, marveling the fit of the dress and shoes. She'd managed to do the zipped on the back most of the way up so she twirled around, causing the skirt to flare out. Well, she did look closer to being ready for a wedding but-

"Kat? Are you done?" Came Mack's voice.

"Well, I- What about my hair? And-"

Rose called. "Just bring the basket."

Spinning around, Kat grabbed the gift basket off of the table and headed out the door of her bedroom.

"Oh, wow…" Rose remarked. "You look amazing."

"Uh, could one of you?" Kat asked pointing to her back.

"Got it." Mack said, pulling the zipper up the rest of the way. "Let's get going."

"Okay." Kat agreed but froze as she heard a rumbling sound from the kitchen. "Uh-oh! The eggs…"

"I'll get it." Rose sighed. "Mack, get going, I need to stop by the University here anyways, just come back and get me later."

"Here's the keys." Kat said, plucking a set off the nearby table. "Don't forget to lock up, but why are we in such a hurry?"

"We got delayed getting here." Mack explained. "We were supposed to be here an hour ago but things happened…"

"Ah…"

"Come on, Ronny is dying to meet you."

"Who?"

The next hour or so was a blur for Kat. She remembered getting into some sort of experimental looking jet, and attacked by a woman in a yellow Overdrive uniform who had promptly torn into her makeup basket and began doing her up. She even had hairspray in there and began styling Kat's hair, placing a large, pink, tropical in the up do.

"And the final touch." Ronny said excitedly, plucking a bouquet of red, pink, and white flowers out from under her seat. There was a green and black ribbon tied around them and Kat laughed. Clearly Tommy was trying to send her a message. "Excellent, you are all ready."

"Thank you." Kat replied with a grin. "It's quite sweet of you to do all of this."

"No problem." Ronny replied. "Mack's dad is known for his adventures, and every once in a while he involves the rest of us. Come on, your fiancé is waiting. Besides, I haven't been to his island before…"

When the doors opened, Kat found herself in awe. She hadn't even been aware they'd landed… She walked down the ramp of the plane until her shoes found sand. The weather wasn't cool like Reefside was prone too, it was hot and humid, and Kat could only stare at the clear blue water surrounding the island.

Wow… it must be awesome to be rich.

"Say cheese!" Kat jumped back as a camera was shoved in her face. Behind it, a man in a blue suit jacket was grinning madly. "Hey there, I'm Dax, I'm your photographer."

"Oh…"

"If you'll follow me…"

She followed the blue clad man through the sand, wobbling slightly in her heels. They eventually reached a path that allowed her to walk evenly up towards the island house Hartford had on the island. The deck on the house was massive, reaching out to the size of two tennis courts side by side. Waiting there was a rather flushed Hayley dressed in a knee length yellow dress and fanning herself with a group of recipe cards. Beside her, well…

Kat's eyes widened to see Tommy standing there, dressed in a white suit with a red tie. He was grinning like a mad man and Kat could feel tears welling up in her eyes. She paused at the stairs leading up to the deck, unsure of what to do.

"Go ahead." Dax insisted as Tommy held his hand out, gesturing for Kat to go over to him.

She nodded and headed up the stairs, taking Tommy's hand when she reached him. The actual ceremony was a bit fuzzy in Kat's mind, she was crying too much, and staring at Tommy. She did however briefly snap out of her daze when Hayley ended with "Just say 'I do' and kiss, damnit!"

And that they did.

* * *

Ah yes, I know you'll all have questions, but trust me, if I don't end this story here and now it will never be finished. Though this was fun to write….

Please Review.


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